Friends again?
by Jumaolster
Summary: Now COMPELTE! Hope you like the ending :
1. Chapter 1

Eric sat down on one of the benches outside the Miami Dade building and took a deep breath. He felt completely numb. The last couple of weeks had really been a roller coaster ride.

First Marisol's wedding, which he had openly opposed, hurting his favourite sister's feelings more than he would ever know.

His "friend" Natalia had luckily talked him into going and now that Mari was dead, he was eternally grateful for Natalia talking some sense into him.

Which was why he just could not understand how she had been able to betray him like this. She was the MOLE.

And not only him, but the others as well. But he considered himself more betrayed than the others, because she'd been his girl for months and months.

His girl. To be truthful he hadn't exactly treated her well, he knew very well that she hadn't had anyone else while they were dating, and he'd gone out with a really hot blond from the beach a couple of times…..

And he had messed it up, he admitted that. He had NO IDEA where on earth that God - awful "free for landing" comment had come from, but before he knew it, Ryan had managed to bug him into saying something stupid like that. Just to show he was on the top of his game. And in the process he'd made someone he really cared for locker room talk. He felt a sting of guilt in his chest.

He had never ever imagined Natalia would say yes to Ryan. But when she confronted him about "dumping her locker room style" he'd seen the hurt and anger in her eyes. Instead of grabbing the moment and apologize, he'd messed up even more. And Natalia had gone to dinner with Ryan. Why hadn't he taken her out to dinner? He had no idea. She was a drop dead gorgeous woman, and he so enjoyed her company.

And he knew for a fact that she enjoyed his company, otherwise she wouldn't have gone out with him all that time. The first couple of dates had been increasingly steamy make out sessions, but nothing more. Then she had reluctantly agreed to take it further, but the first time together had not been easy. Eric was mostly used to fun mindless sex, but Natalia seemed to have some issues. Now of course he knew about those issues, but in the beginning, he'd been wondering. Then of course with the baby scare he'd gotten cold feet.

Suddenly he just felt like crying. It was just too much. But then Eric had been brought up to believe that manly men don't cry, so he just sat there and swallowed hard a couple of times and continued blinking until the tears just flowed internally. He would NOT cry.

Today with the fed, he'd done in there still steaming from Natalia's confession. He'd felt betrayed and adding to the humiliation of being interrogated by some bureaucratic ass from the FBI he'd said things he didn't mean. He'd called Natalia the office-go-around and said he'd repeat it in court. He secretly knew that her date with Ryan had been just dinner. After all it had taken him ages to get her to loosen up, and Ryan wasn't even close to being as skillfull as he was. He wished he could make those particular words undone, but there was no way of doing that.

Oh well. It didn't matter now, because she was the mole and he'd probably never see her again. She'd probably pack her stuff quietly that evening and never be seen or heard off again.

Now why did that make him even sadder?

Suddenly he saw some huge movements down the street, police cars and feds and bluelights, and Calleigh stepping out of one of the cars with Monica West in handcuffs.

Monica West in handcuffs??

What was going on? He quickly got up and ran over to one of the uniformed police officers:

"Hey, Mauricio? What's up?"

"You have like no idea! Calleigh just arrested Monica West with the help of her fiancé! Monica West is the reason for all of our troubles! And Ms Duquesne has it all on tape!"

Eric knew Mauricio had a soft spot for Natalia ever since she'd helped his sister with some business a while ago. The man was virtually glowing with happiness.

"Ms West said Natalia was a total waste of time, because she wouldn't say anything bad about the lab, and it was Ms West who stole the money!"

Mauricio had a huge smile on his face, but saw that Eric wasn't equally thrilled.

"Yeah, well, she still betrayed us!"

Mauricio rolled his eyes at Eric. Ah well. He for one was happy Natalia wasn't the bad girl she had been made out to be.

Eric felt totally drained. This newest development was a bit too much.

He was so tired he could just fall into bed right now, and sleep for a week. He decided to go home, curl up in bed and turn the phone off.

He waved at Mauricio and jogged back to the garage to get his car. He didn't want to see anyone right then, and made sure no one saw him.

Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. What he saw before him, he had never imagined seeing.

Horatio was accompanying Natalia to her car. And Eric sure wasn't the only one staring. A couple of uniformed officers standing on the stairs were decisively not very content with seeing Natalia and were giving her some hard looks.

Horatio put his hand on her back and said:

"Gentlemen, if you would excuse us!"

The officers moved immediately. Eric was stunned. If Horatio was not only talking to Natalia but making sure she was getting to her car all right, he must have missed something important in all of this.

Eric decided to go to the boxing ring to get rid of some of the anger inside him instead of going straight home, and then call Horatio tonight before going to see what this was all about.

Maybe there was some way he and Natalia could still be friends after all.


	2. Chapter 2

Eric arrived early the next day, thinking to talk to Horatio.

The evening before, he'd gone to the boxing ring, and then instead of calling Horatio he'd gone home to see his mother. He'd found her crying with his dad hiding in the garden. Eric knew everyone deals with sorrow in different ways but he'd still been mad. Why did his dad have to be so old school, never talking to anyone, always expecting obedience and everyone to follow his orders?

Then his dad had suddenly re - entered the house, and had had these red rimmed eyes. Eric had just given him a big hug, not caring if his dad got angry or not, and then they'd been talking all evening long. By the time he got back to his apartment, it was too late to call Horatio.

Arriving at Horatio's office, he saw Horatio and Calleigh talking. Thinking it was a bad time to disturb, Eric decided to go down and process the evidence from a secondary case he was working with Ryan, and went down to the DNA lab.

To his surprise, he found Natalia there, already preparing the equipment to start working the same case.

She was so deep in thought that she didn't hear him entering the room. He saw her slumped shoulders, and her usually shiny hair looked dull and lifeless, just pulled back in a pony tail. He felt sorry for her, but he was still angry with her for the mess she had caused.

He cleared his throat to get her attention and Natalia spun around so violently she nearly crashed into him.

"I'm sorry!" she burst out.

"That's ok. I'm still alive." He looked at her seriously and continued:

"Um. I was kind of thinking you'd not be here this morning? Like with the Mole scenario and all?" Actually he'd already figured out that Horatio had probably made a deal with her.

After seeing them walking to her car last night, he'd been less sure she would be gone. But he'd decided not to be to nice to her, at least not until he knew what was going on.

Natalia's eyes immediately filled up with tears. Well, he wasn't going to give her his handkerchief, that was for sure.

She looked in her pockets for some paper tissues and blew her nose.

"Horatio has offered me a second chance. He's talking to Calleigh, and then they'll make an announcement later. I'm supposed to be working with Ryan this morning, but he took one look at me and walk out on me without even talking to me."

Natalia teared up again.

"Well, it's not like you just won the peace nobel prize, you know. He's probably as angry as everyone else."

"Oh, really! It's not like Ryan is always perfect, and everyone seems to forgive him his faux pas every time! No one has even asked me for my side of the story, and you know what? I'm not even going to bother telling anyone!" Now her tears had turned into anger.

Eric gave her a sceptical look.

"Your side of the story? You're the mole and rest is really irrelevant, don't you think?" Eric was getting angrier as he spoke.

"Fine! See if I care! I'm not going to tell you anyway!"

She turned her back to him and began to prepare the plastic containers for the samples to process.

Eric sighed. Oh my. This had gone really bad. He was very curious actually to what her motives might have been, but never in his life was he going to swallow his pride and ask her now.

He put on some gloves and started working beside her, starting to prepare the microscope for the samples she had already processed.

They worked in total silence for 20 minutes until he got sick and tired of the silence and looked up at her.

To his horror he saw that her shoulders were shaking.

He felt a pang of guilt. Eric was generally speaking a very sociable, fun - loving and forgiving person, and he hadn't intended to make her cry like this.

He carefully touched her shoulder, but she just shook him off.

"Nat?", he said tentatively, "hey don't cry like this, ok? I'm entitled to be a bit angry, no? I mean, you just have to understand that it was a huge shock finding out you've snitched on me and everyone else….."

Natalia turned around.

"I know no one believes me, but I really did only say the minimum amount of things, and since there is really nothing bad to report while I've been here, I've only reported good news. By the time I figured out that the Feds weren't interested in good news, it was way to late to back out, they threatened to fire me and I'm really pretty desperate for a job right now."

She dried her tears.

Eric thought about what she had just said.

"Wait a minute! What do you mean, while you've been here? I know the probe started much earlier than your arrival, but nothing bad happened before you arrived either!"

Natalia looked like she was contemplating her answer.

"Actually, I'll tell you why I did it. But only if you really promise not to tell anyone, no matter what happens in the next couple of months, ok?"

"Well, all right." Eric didn't think there was a very big secret here, but humoured her just to find out what was going on.

"Someone in the lab, and I won't tell you who because it really doesn't matter any more, mishandled part of the evidence in my trial against Nick. He got a much lighter sentence as a consequence. When the Feds came to me and made me an offer, I really couldn't refuse."

She looked at him, and they both started giggling at the same time. Eric was shocked about this news and wanted to defuse the situation, so he made his best "Godfather" imitation.

"An offer you can't refuse!"

To his relief Natalia wasn't crying anymore.

"Listen, Nat, I'm sorry about your trial. I hope I wasn't the one to mess up, but I respect your wish not to say anything right now. I'll be here for you in case you want to talk to me in the future, and I won't tell anyone about what we just discussed, ok? I just want to state my opinion that it might be easier for you in the next couple of weeks it you did tell the guys about this."

"No, I don't want to. I have my reasons. I'll get through the next couple of months, I've been through much worse. I'm glad you're giving me another chance, and I'll prove to you and Horatio that I won't waste it."

Eric though that at least now they had something to work on. He also planned to sneak down into the archives and go look for her paper work, since he had done a computer based search once, and had only hit wall after wall.

He smiled at her, just a little smile.

"Ok. If you say so. I hope you'll know were to find me to talk if ever you're in too much trouble to handle it yourself."

At hearing a knock on the door, they both turned around, facing a serious looking Calleigh.

" I'd like to ask the two of you to join Horatio, Frank, Ryan and I in Horatio's office, please."

They both nodded, relieved that Calleigh albeit not looking very content, at least did not seem spitfire infuriated, and followed her out of the lab to Horatio's office.


	3. Chapter 3

Eric followed Natalia and Calleigh down the hall to Horatio's office. The blinds were all drawn so they could talk in private, and Eric had an intensive sense of dread rummaging around in his stomach. He hoped this would be quick and painless, but he kind of doubted it. Ryan was a good guy, but he wasn't very forgiving, and Frank was , well, just Frank.

They entered the office together and with one glance Eric noticed that Natalia had become pale and was shaking slightly. He was standing behind her, and with no one being able to see what he was doing he touched her back to reassure her. He heard Natalia take a deep shaky breath.

Horatio was sitting behind his desk in order to have a good visual of all the members of his team, and he nodded slightly at Calleigh, who cleared her throat.

"We've called y'all in here because the last couple of days have been crazy to say the least, and Horatio and I have now decided on the best course of action to take over the next couple of weeks.

I know that some were surprised to see Natalia here this morning, but please understand that she is still a member of the team and will be even more so in a couple of weeks time.

Horatio has decided to add her to our team as a CSI – in – training, and since Natalia has been getting all the theoretical work done over the last year, she need to just complete the practical training to become a CSI. I'll be her direct supervisor for the time being. Now I realise this may come as a shock, but after talking to Monica West and doing some research, Horatio and I have come to the conclusion that this is the best way out of out current under staffing problem. For now, I'm asking everyone to accept our decision as it is, and try to work together as effectively as possible. Now, Horatio would like to add something. Thank you."

The silence was deafening. Eric thought Frank didn't look neither upset nor surprised and wondered what he knew that no one else knew. Eric made a mental note to dig very deep into Natalia's mystery as soon as possible.

Ryan on the other hand looked visibly malcontent. He didn't say anything, but Eric saw those dark eyes of his just glimmer with anger. Ryan would definitely be the most difficult to win back over.

Horatio stood up.

"I know some think I seemed distracted lately, and I admit that with my wedding to Marisol I've been around less. Maybe I've failed to act on some things that I should have acted on, " he paused and smiled at Natalia, much to Ryan's chagrin,

" but I'm still asking you to help me out with some more things before I can settle back into the old routine. As you all know, " Horatio's face contracted with pain," Marisol's death has not resulted in any arrest. I've decided to take some time off, to settle some personal business and to grieve my wife. For reasons that I don't wish to become public yet, Eric is coming with me."

He gave the younger man a sad smile, and Eric just nodded agreement. The less the others knew, the better.

Horatio continued:

"I hope you will all respect my decisions and also accept Calleigh as your new interim supervisor until I come back. I'll be in my office today to clear some paper work, in case someone wishes to talk to me in private. For now, you can all go back to work. Thank you."

He tilted his head and looked at all his team.

He knew things wouldn't be easy for Natalia, but he was sure she'd get through the next couple of week just fine. After all, he knew she was a strong woman, and if he'd interpreted things right, Eric was already on his way of mending his friendship with Natalia.

Horatio knew that both Calleigh and Frank were seasoned professionals, and would turn to work as a way of rebuilding trust at first. Things would quieten down by themselves after a while, and Horatio was hoping that Calleigh calm and trustworthy demeanor would guide Natalia on her rocky rode ahead. Ryan was another matter. He looked absolutely livid with anger, but kept it to himself. Horatio was hoping Ryan would come and see him later, the you man had quite a temper and was not always able to contain himself.

Calleigh opened the door to Horatio's office and everyone understood the order to leave without words being exchanged. She made a sign to Natalia to stay, and Eric really hoped he'd have time to talk with Natalia before he and H left for Brazil later that day.

He shot Calleigh a worried look, but the petite blond gave him a reassuring smile and closed to door on him with a decisive movement.

Eric sighed and walked back down to the lab.

As he arrived he found Ryan there, infuriated.


	4. Chapter 4

Ryan glared at Eric.

"What the hell is wring with you man? One minute you proclaim Natalia to be the office whore to the feds and the next you're all lovey – dovey?? I swear, if you just once would think with your brain instead of with some other body part, you'd see what a bad idea this is. She snitched on all of us, now you tell me how we can ever trust her again? I'm sure not going to cut her any slack!"

Eric had become increasingly angry during Ryan's rant.

"First of all, I've never called Natalia anything like that!"

Ryan smirked and rolled his eyes at Eric.

"Yeah, well, guess what, everyone more or less knows what you said. The feds are not exactly known for their delicacy and discretion, you know!"

Eric had the good taste to blush. Damn, he wished he hadn't said that. He was going to talk to H to make that particular part of his statement disappear.

"Well, I didn't mean it. And I don't think with any other body part than my brain! I know you're angry, but don't take it out on me! You know very well that Cooper was the one to blabber on about you eye problem, and for the rest of it, if H is content this way, I'm going to trust him!"

Eric was thisclose to tell Ryan what Natalia had said about the evidence in her case, but stopped himself at the last second. He had promised, after all.

Eric sat down. He had this feeling of complete exhaustion overcome him. Ryan must have noticed because he looked contrite and said:

"Hay pal, I'm sorry. I'm a total ass for yelling at you, ok? I'm so sorry. Do you want me to get you some water? You don't look too well all of a sudden."

"Nah, that's ok. I'll go for a walk and clear my head. Can you process the rest of the evidence on your own?"

"Yeah, sure, don't worry!"

Eric got up and as he reached the door he turned around.

"Hey Ry? Can you do me a favor?"

When Ryan nodded he continued:

"Don't be to harsh on Nat, ok? I know you're angry and feel betrayed and all, but just try to give her a second chance ok? When I come back from my trip, we'll talk some more, ok, man? But right now, can you just promise me to give it a try?"

Ryan was dumbfounded. What the hell? Something was going on. He could feel all his cop alarms going off and his spine tingle. He was sure Eric was hiding something from him, but the poor guy looked so tired, Ryan decided to let it go for the moment.

"Ok, man, I'll try. I'm not promising 100 , but I'll try." Secretly he was thinking he wasn't going to let Natalia off the hook all that easily, but for now, all Eric needed was some reassurance. Ryan had already figured out that H and Eric were going to Brazil to hunt down Marisol's killer. He'd been present when their express – super rushed passports had been specially delivered. But he was smart enough to keep him mouth shut.

Eric suddenly smiled at him.

"Take good care of the girls, ok? And we'll be back as soon as possible."

And before Ryan could even think of a smart come back, he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Eric sighed. He'd been back at work for 2 months now. He'd hoped that getting revenge for Marisol's death would resolve some of his issues, but it hadn't really. It helped knowing that that bastard would not be killing anyone else, but his favorite little sister was still dead, and would never be back. He sometimes dreamt about her, and she was always teasing him in his dreams.

He could hear her laughing, but then he always woke up and knew she wasn't around anymore and felt so lonely he just wanted to cry. He'd been going out with his other sisters often in the last two months, and he loved them dearly, but they were much older than him, and still saw him as a baby. Marisol had more been a partner in crime and confidant, his other sisters were more like extra moms.

He looked up and saw Nick Townsend pass by. That guy gave him the total creeps. Who knew what he was up to? Eric didn't think the man had changed, he's been secretly observing him, and the way he stared at Natalia was downright scary. He knew H had spoken to Nick's supervisor, and they come to some sort of an agreement, and Nick had stayed away. Mostly. Sometimes he'd still walk up and quietly creep closer and closer to Natalia and by the time she noticed him he was virtually breathing down her neck.

Eric suddenly remembered his conversation with Natalia that day after the awful day, as he called it in his mind. How could he have forgotten about it? He sat up straighter in his chair and switched off the microscope. He had some downtime before Valera brought in the next batch of samples and decided to go for a "walk" in the archives.

Eric exited the lab and carefully rounded the corner making sure no one saw him, and opened the door to the archives as quietly as possible and quickly closed it behind him. He'd checked her case file number that time long ago when he'd tried to access her file in the computer, and jogged down the long line of shelves until he came to the section he was looking for. After some searching, he found a box with the right number, but it was sealed with double red tape, over the original one there was a second, newer one, with Horatio's initials on it.

Damn.

He didn't know if he dared break H's seal, if he found out, he'd be in deep trouble.

Suddenly he felt a movement behind him, and spun around and stared straight into Ryan's eyes.

Eric had moved too fast, and became dizzy. Grabbing the shelf for support, he dropped the evidence box in the process, and hitting the hard concrete floor, the box broke open and all it's contents spilled out onto the floor.

"Oh, man, I'm so sorry!" Ryan exclaimed, " I just saw you sneak down here like you had a big secret or something and was wondering what you were up to. I sure didn't want to scare the daylight out of you."

"Ryan! I don't believe you snook up at me like this! This was a confidential box, sealed by Horatio, and now you broke it!" Eric was furious.

"What do you mean! I broke it! You're the one who dropped it! I didn't do anything!" Ryan was visibly shaken.

They both looked down at the broken box in silence.

Suddenly Ryan bent down and picked up a photo, tucked into a plastic folder. On the photo you could see a woman's lower back, with a series of round scars. They were redder than the surrounding skin, and a bit protruding, like the size of a cigarette burn. On another photo he saw a hand and a wrist pictured, with ugly blue and yellow bruises.

Ryan shuddered at the thought of what this poor woman had gone through. While it's certainly true that it takes two to have a fight, no one deserved to be treated like this. Ryan always felt very strongly for domestic violence cases.

"Why were you picking it up then? And who's the woman?"

Eric quickly took the photos from Ryan's hands sighed inwardly. There was no obvious way out of this awkward situation, except the truth. Natalia was going to kill him.

"If I tell you, do you promise me that you won' t tell anyone? No matter what? 'Cause I was kind of breaking a promise to someone by looking for the box in the first place, and now that you've seen the contents, I'm so totally fried."

Ryan gave Eric a surprised look. Although he was a ladies man, Ryan had always figured that Eric didn't really care much about anyone but himself and maybe his immediate family, because he dumped his girlfriends as often and with as much ease as other people change their shirts.

But since he was drop dead curious, and he really wanted to help his "best enemy", he decided to play along nicely for now.

"Ok, sure. I promise. If it's this important to you, then I'll help. I just hope H won't find out about this, or we'll be in so much trouble."

And Eric told him exactly what Natalia had told him about her trial and the evidence, and the what the feds had said to get her to collaborate.

Ryan was so shocked he had to sit down on the concrete floor and take a deep breath. This was just horrible. Not that he forgave Boa Vista for being the mole or something, but it sure put things into a different light.

Suddenly he sat up straight. A terrible notion had formed in his head.

He grabbed the box and carefully studied the red tape to see who had been the primary officer on the case to begin with.

Eric bent over to see the name for himself. Together they carefully removed the second layer of tape and looked directly at someone's initials.

The first reaction for both of them was one of complete relief.

It wasn't theirs.

But then the awful truth dawned on them and they just stared at the box with dismay.


	6. Chapter 6

They didn't even dare to look at each other. Eric quickly grabbed the box, put the damaged lid on, and pushed it way back into the shelf, hoping no one would ever come look for it.

Deny everything, would be his motto, in case anyone ever asked.

He turned to Ryan and poked him in the chest with his index finger:

"Not a word about this to anyone, understand! I'll think of what to do, and in the meantime, you'll be good guy and keep quiet!"

Ryan was seriously offended.

"Of course I won't tell anyone! I'm not a snitch you know! Sometimes you're such a sanctimonious ass! And besides, H sealed that box for a reason, and I'm not going to get into the middle of this."

Secretly he felt very guilty about a really rude comment he'd made to Boa Vista a while ago, he'd said that not all husbands were like hers. She'd looked so hurt, nearly as if he'd actually hit her with the words, but he'd still felt very upset about her betraying the team. Ryan was a lot of things and he had quite a temper, but he was fiercely loyal, and expected everyone else to be so as well.

Thank God Natalia hadn't been able to run to Eric and tell him what Ryan had said, though, because Ryan had a felling that Eric maybe felt a lot more for Natalia than he even admitted to himself. Ryan was still upset about the photos he'd just seen of Natalia, but he decided to push those thought to the back of his head right now. After all, she was the mole and did not really deserve 100 forgiveness just yet.

With a start, both of their beepers went off at the same time. They both got so scared they virtually jumped. Then they both felt a such of relief. A case. This way they wouldn't have to talk any more about what just had happened.

Simultaneously they turned and scrambled for the door, ran around the corner and nearly bumped into Calleigh.

"Hey there, you guys! So where's the fire?" She smiled at "her boys"

"Did you get the latest beep? There is a big case, and all hands are called on deck!"

They just nodded, and followed her to Horatio's office.

Calleigh did wonder why the boys looked like someone had caught them with their hands in the cookie jar, but decided not to say anything. She could always get Eric to talk later.

And with lots of patience and skill, she would get Ryan to spill the beans as well, just to see if he delivered the same story. Hehe. As soon as the case was settled, she'd go for it.

"Ryan, you'll take Natalia and drive out to the swamps to teach her evidence collection in a humid area, where we have just found a woman in her thirties, " and she shot him a mock serious glance when he protested out loud, " and Eric will process the vic's home, where we found her husband, an apparent suicide."

Arriving at Horatio's office, Eric grabbed the keys of the hummer, but Calleigh corrected him:

"Ryan will take the hummer, and you'll take the new green uniformed officer who just arrived from the police academy and teach him how to drive the old evidence van."

She smiled brightly. Being the boss was fun, especially when she could help the boys to develop and become better supervisors.

Both Eric and Ryan were dismayed, but knew better than to discuss things. Calleigh looked like a cute 5 ft 2 blonde, but in there somewhere was a dragon, and no one wanted to be the one to wake the dragon up, especially before lunch.

Horatio looked up from his desk and smiled at Calleigh. She was relieved to see that he was slowly getting to be his old self. Not only was he getting himself back into shape and eating better, but he was also slowly wearing other things than all mourning black. Some idiots had wondered why he never wore a ring after his marriage to Marisol, but Calleigh knew better.

He was wearing it in a gold chain around his neck, to keep her close to his heart.

Horatio on his part was forever grateful that he had Calleigh by his side. His heart was still numb with mourning, but somehow the petite blonde, ever present at his side to help and assist, made his life easier in this dark time.

And she was good with "the kids" too. Calleigh had not been to happy about keeping Natalia at first, but Horatio had sat her down and had told her everything he knew about the case. Obviously omitting some facts that would have upset Calleigh too much. After some coaxing, she had agreed to give Natalia a second chance, and had also agreed to be her overall mentor. Horatio had secretly removed some of the worse photos from Natalia's evidence box, but kept them in his locked cabinet, in case they were ever needed again. You never knew who Nick would date next.

Calleigh shooed the guys out of H's office, and saw Ryan walk off with Natalia in tow. Was it her imagination, or was he friendlier today than he had been previously?

She shook her head in wonder. On the other side, it was impossible to be angry with Natalia forever, the woman really had a warm heart and a kind spirited soul.

Calleigh sent Eric on his way. Just as he was out the door, she saw that he had dropped a paper slip, with a case number on it.

"Eric!" , she called out, but the door was already closed behind him.

She took a look at the numbers on the slip. How odd, she thought.

Why on earth would Eric go and look up a closed case over two years old?

Calleigh wasn't hatched yesterday. Something was up, and she would find out, for sure.


	7. Chapter 7

Calleigh had finished her work on the taser from yesterdays robbery and decided to check the computer for the file number Eric had lost. First she came up with nothing at all, just a confidential file she did not have clearance for.

However she noticed a reference to Horatio and was worried that maybe H had gotten himself into trouble and Eric was trying to fix things by himself. After all, they had come back from Brazil with some very mad feds on their tail.

Calleigh went to get a cup of coffee. While she walked back to her workstation, she made a decision, one that she had made just once before in her life with Horatio: she decided to use his password to open the file. She'd obtained it ages ago, due to her photographic memory, but had just kept it to be sure to be able to help H should he ever need it.

She took a big gulp of the black liquid and put the cup down. Carefully making sure no one was around, she accessed the file with Horatio's password.

To her great surprise, the system wouldn't budge.

Hmmmmmm. What now. Why was access denied? Horatio must have changed his password without her noticing. Now what?

She had an idea. Since Eric would have had no idea on how to access the file, he must have gone to look for the old fashioned way. Grabbing a chocolate bar and her cup of coffee, Calleigh set off to the archives.

Once arrived, she soon found the beat-up box, and curiously carried it over to a table at the end of the shelf. She sat down and open the box.

"Oh my God!" Calleigh actually said it out loud, at seeing Natalia's beat up face staring back at her from a photo. Natalia's file. But why on earth did Eric want to check it? And how had he dared to break Horatio's seal? That was the first thing Calleigh had noticed. She went through the evidence, carefully not to contaminate anything.

Poor Natalia. Calleigh felt absolutely appalled at what she saw. At the same time she was getting angrier and angrier with Eric. How dared he go snooping around this file, and look at Natalia's photos? What if Natalia found out? She would feel violated, for sure!

She'd have a little talk with him when he came back, that was for sure! Boy was he in trouble!

Suddenly she heard the archive's door opening, and footsteps coming nearer and nearer.

"Damn!", she heard Ryan whispering. Ryan? What was he doing here?

"I'm sure we put it back here!" Eric answered nervously.

"Maybe H was down here and found the broken box?" Ryan sounded really scared now.

Calleigh decided it was time to reveal her presence, and that the "tough love" approach would be appropriate.

She quietly walked up behind the boy and said in a stern voice:

"I have the box you've been looking for."

The boys swung around. If she hadn't been so disappointed with them, the looks on their faces would actually have been hilarious, but as it was, she wasn't amused.

"Please don't tell Horatio!" both the boys said at once.

"Right now, Horatio is the least of your problems! First y'all have to survive the conversation you'll have with me, and then, if, and I repeat IF there is something left of you, I'll see if I'll report you to Horatio before or after reprimanding you!"

Both Eric and Ryan paled. They had never seen Calleigh this angry.

Eric decided that attack is the best defence, and said:

"Cal? I know you're very angry right now, and you have every right to reprimand us and stuff, but would you please just listen first?"

"Oh please do enlighten me as to why you're breaking into evidence boxes that are clearly out of you security clearance, and about a friend and coworker at that!" Calleigh lifted her chin a bit so she could stare him straight in the eyes.

Eric took a deep breath. There was only one way to survive this with announce of pride remaining, and that was telling the entire truth, all the truth, and nothing but the truth. So he did. He told her about what Natalia had said, and that he'd tried accessing the file in the computer, how he got down here and had broken his promise to Natalia, and how Ryan had followed him.

Calleigh was speechless. If what the feds had told Nat was true, someone here had contaminated the evidence, and Nick had gotten out earlier because of it. Calleigh was going to launch her own investigation into the matter, though, before making any accusations.

"Who was the primary officer on the case?" Calleigh asked with an acute sense of foreboding in the pit of her stomach.

Both Eric and Ryan remained silent.

"Well? Do you want me to check for myself, or are you going to tell me?" Calleigh raised her voice just enough to make it an order.

In the end, it was Ryan who answered:

"You know how Natalia told Eric it didn't matter anymore? That she didn't care anymore? That's because actually Tim Speedle was the primary officer and therefore responsible for her evidence."

Calleigh closed her eyes.

_Oh, Tim, what did you do, honey_? She thought with a pang of pain in her chest. And moreover, what should they do now?


	8. Chapter 8

Ryan was the first to speak again.

"I think we should just put the box back where it was, Calleigh could reseal it, and then Eric and I'll go and tell Horatio what a mess we've created. And no one should ever mention anything about all of this to Natalia, what she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Calleigh took action:

"I'll reseal it, then I'll go and talk to Horatio myself first, and see how he reacts. You boys go back to working on your cases, and not a word about this to anyone, y'all hear me!"

No need to let the guys know she'd not been officially cleared for the box either right?

Inwardly she dreaded the conversation with Horatio, she hoped he wouldn't be too disappointed with her.

She carefully closed the box, sealed it with a third layer of red tape and put her initials on it.

Ryan put the box back on the shelf, carefully hiding it behind some others, and then Calleigh accompanied the guys out of the lab.

She went straight to see Horatio, better to get things over with right away.

After an hour long conversation with H, not one of her finest moments there in the beginning, they had come to the conclusion that Calleigh would talk to Eric and Ryan, and deal with them how she saw fit.

Horatio suddenly smiled.

"Why didn't you just check the computer? I DO know you have my password, you know!"

Calleigh felt herself blushing all the way up her hair - roots.

"I did actually, " she confessed, " But you must have changed it, because I got access denied!"

Horatio looked surprised.

"I haven't changed it! It's the same old one!"

He accessed the computer and put in the file number. But when he tried to access the file, his access was denied as well.

Calleigh knew Horatio very well by now. She knew fury when she saw it, and right now, that was what best described Horatio. Not many people had a higher clearance than H, which left them with either the Feds or maybe Stetler.

Horatio got up:

"Ma'am, would you please accompany me to see Mr. Stetler? I prefer having someone with me in case things get ugly!"

"I'll have your back, Horatio, I'll have your back!"

They arrived at Stetler's office 5 minutes later, but Stetler denied all knowledge. Why on earth would he want to block Boa Vista's file?

Horatio had seen many liars in his career, and right now, he was pretty convinced Stetler was telling the truth. That more or less left them with the feds, but Horatio had no idea as to why they would want to block his access to the file.

Stetler said:

"Listen, Horatio, I know we don't always agree, but if you want, I can have a friend of mine over in computers take a look at the file discreetly to see who fiddled with it."

Horatio looked at Calleigh, who nodded at him, and told Stetler to go ahead.

Meanwhile, in the lab, Eric was working with Ryan and Natalia on some evidence, and Natalia was getting more and more nervous about their silence, interpreting it as anger.

"Hey you guys, are you angry with me? Because neither of you have said anything at all ever since I came in! If I did something to anger you I'm very sorry you know!"

Eric gave her a startled look:

"No, Nat. I'm not angry with you. I'm more angry with myself, you know? Cause I did something dumb and now I don't know how to undo it!"

Natalia smiled at him encouragingly.

"Well, I kind of know that feeling. If you want to tell me, maybe I can help you feel better?"

Ryan felt guilty as hell. He wished the dull pain in his chest would go away, and that things would go back to normal again, and Eric at the same time wanted nothing more than to just tell Natalia everything, and get her forgiveness.

Man, did they feel bad about themselves.

Natalia was wondering what on earth they had done to act this strangely and tried again:

"Ok, so I don't know what you've done, but trust me, walking around with a weight on you conscience is not good for you, so if you want to, I'll listen, ok?"

Eric felt like crawling into bed and never getting up again. Was this the way Natalia had felt that way she'd confessed to him that she was the mole? He'd been very harsh on her that day, really he had.

"Ok, but maybe you better sit down."

Natalia sighed and sat down. Whatever it was, it couldn't be this bad?

Eric looked at his feet and tried to find the right words. Before he got started, suddenly Ryan burst out:

"We're so sorry! We kind of accidentally got our hands of your evidence box from the trial, because you told Eric someone messed up and we wanted to sort of figure out who it was, and then the box broke and the things fell out, and then later Calleigh caught us, and we figured out it was Tim who handled your evidence, and Calleigh is furious with us, and she's gone to talk to Horatio! And I saw both of them go see Stetler earlier, and we're really so sorry like you have no idea!"

Both men looked at her, hoping for some evidence of forgiveness in her eyes.

Instead, Natalia looked like someone had hit her in the stomach and she couldn't get any air.

Neither Eric nor Ryan had anticipated what happened next:

"You saw the photos from my trial?" Natalia said with a shaky voice. " You looked at my photos? And Calleigh saw them too?"

None of the boys had thought that was the most important part in all of this, but obviously Natalia had other priorities.

Eric said:

"Just one or two, but—but---?"

Natalia slid down from the chair and ran out of the lab, slamming the door behind her. Through the glass they could see her run down the hall and around the corner.

The boys looked at each other. What on earth had just happened? Natalia was upset, that was clear, but for a completely different reason than the boys had anticipated.

Just then, a very serious looking Calleigh came walking in.

"Where is Natalia? I need to talk to her urgently!"

Eric and Ryan both just wanted the floor to open itself and engulf them.


	9. Chapter 9

This time Eric decided he better be the one to tell her. This was turning into one of the worst days in his entire life.

He sighed deeply and told Calleigh what had just happened.

Calleigh could just not believe how bad things were getting.

"Any idea on where Natalia went?

Both men shook their heads.

"Ryan, go look in the archives, Eric, go check her car, and I'll go see if Natalia is in the breakroom. Meet me back at H's office in ten minutes sharp!

But they would all look in vane. Natalia had discovered the perfect hideout the day it had become public that she was the mole: in the morgue's backroom.

Right now she was sitting huddled up on the daybed in Alex'es backoffice, crying her heart out. First she'd made sure no one was around, and then she'd let go.

The boys and Calleigh seeing the pictures of her bruised and battered was the most humiliating thing that had happened to her for a long time. How could she ever face them again? All they would ever see now when they looked at her was the woman in the pictures, what if they had lost all respect for her now? Not that Ryan respected her all that much right now, but this was far worse.

She felt dizzy and laid down on the bed. She took off her lab coat to cover herself up, closed her eyes and tried to breath evenly to recover her bearing. She curled up on one side and pulled her knees up and hugged herself. She didn't want to deal with this. This time, she'd just really back her stuff and quietly sneak out the back door and never come back.

She was half asleep when she heard the door open softly, and felt a whiff of Alex's perfume. Natalia decided to pretend to be asleep, maybe Alex would just leave.

Alex closed the door and took out her mobile. She quickly texted Calleigh: "NBV ok" and then she put her mobile away, grabbed a chair and sat down next to Natalia. She put her arm around the other woman and said softly:

"It's ok baby? I know you're awake. There's no need to hide from me. Just tell me how I can help, and you'll see you'll feel better. Don't be scared, ok? C'mon now sweetie?"

Ironically that was more or less what Natalia had said to Eric and Ryan just about 30 minutes earlier.

She hid her face in Alex'es tunic and started crying again. Weird how safe she felt though.

Alex had talked to Calleigh earlier and knew more or less what had happened. She hadn't seen the photos, but she'd seen enough beat – to – death women in her life to know more or less what they looked like.

Natalia suddenly felt something just break inside, and poured her heart out to Alex, between sobs and trying to calm down. Alex just let her talk on, without interrupting, just holding her.

When she had finished, Alex said:

"Baby, first of all, the boys won't disrespect you for what happened to you. Eric is a bit flamboyant and Ryan has his difficult sides, but both their mothers raised them to be good men, who don't go for taking out their frustrations on a poor woman. Second, Calleigh knows a thing or two about domestic violence herself, and she'll be nothing but understanding. Now, if you're up to it, why don't you go wash your face, and then we go and look for the others, ok? Just to tell them you're ok."

Natalia nodded reluctantly. She still felt exposed somehow, but she had calmed down enough to know that there was only one way ahead, and sneaking out the backdoor wasn't it. She wondered what

Eric had thought when seeing the pictures. Would he still consider her a beautiful woman now? What if he didn't want to look at her anymore.

_Ugly and useless! You're a disgrace! You're food is horrible! I can't even invite someone over for dinner without you dishonouring the family name! Natalia could still hear Nick yelling at her._

But that was in the past. With the help if her women's groups and the shrink, she knew that most of the things that had happened weren't her fault.

She got up and walked into the small bathroom connected to the backoffice. She washed her face, and fixed her hair best she could. When she felt a bit more presentable, she walked out into the morgue, and found the entire team waiting for her.

Eric felt a surge of fondness in his heart when he saw her standing there, looking all fragile. He saw that she must have been crying for all her worth just minutes ago. He impulsively walked over to her and gave her a big hug.

"You silly girl. Running away like that and crying alone! You scared us to hell, you know, when we couldn't find you anywhere, and H is furious at us for not taking good care of you.

Don't ever do that again, ok? I'm so sorry I broke your trust with the evidence, and none of this was actually Ryan's fault. If you want to yell at me, go a head, because everyone else has more or less been angry with me today."

Eric held her tightly to his chest so she wouldn't run away again. And also because he really wanted to hug her, and because she always smelled so good.

Natalia awarded him with a shy smile.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken off like that. I was just so ashamed, you know? I didn't want anyone to see those photos. I came here to try to fix my life, and now with the second chance, I'd been hoping I could just forget about things. Then Nick came back, and he scares me, really he does. And you seeing the photos was just a bit too much."

She was addressing all of them, but mostly she was talking to Eric.

Calleigh broke in:

"I think we should all go to the break room and have a cup of tea of coffee and calm down, and just talk." She gave everyone her warmest smile.

In that precise moment, Horatio's cell phone beeped.

"It's Stetler," he said to Calleigh, and answered the phone, "Yes, Rick, what information do you have for me?"


	10. Chapter 10

Calleigh was slowly rubbing Natalia's back, while Alex was doting on her by caressing her hand. Eric and Ryan felt much better and both were hoping that the stupid things they had combined during the day would be settled with everyone being friends again.

And Eric was seriously contemplating asking Natalia out for a date. A friendship date to begin with, with candle light dinner and a walk on the beach. And then he'd just bring her home to her place, with no pressure to do anything else. Whenever she was ready, she would tell him so. He grinned to himself. That was a good plan.

Horatio finished his phonecall with Stetler, and turned around and looked at all of them seriously.

"Miss Boa Vista, is there anything you'd like to add right now? About you're file, for example?"

At first Natalia looked like she didn't know what he has referring to, but then apparently it dawned on her, because she blushed profoundly and started tugging at her shirt.

"I blocked it a while a go", she said quietly, "so no one could accidentally find it. I'm sorry Horatio, I should have told you. I though maybe people wouldn't be so understanding and I didn't want anyone to see " she nearly had tears in her eyes again.

Horatio looked at her and said softly but with a serious undertone:

"How did you have access to my password? You would have had to enter it to change it to that specific file?"

Natalia looked embarrassed.

"My sister Cristina is a computer programmer, and developed a little program for me to break your code. I didn't want anyone to know, and I was to embarrassed to ask you to hide my file, so I did it myself." She was looking very contrite.

Horatio took a deep breath.

"OK, Natalia. As soon as Calleigh and I've finished talking to Eric and Ryan, you and I are going to have a little conversation about trust and fiddling around with the lab's computers."

But he was smiling at all of them when he said it. Horatio had a feeling that his team was on the mend. In all the mess they had actually tried to cooperate with each other, even Eric and Ryan had had each other's backs.

There was one very important thing he wanted to clear with all of them though.

"I know that the feds told Natalia the reason why some of the evidence was thrown out was because Tim mishandled it. I want you all to know that I've come to the conclusion that that was a lie on their part to get Natalia's cooperation. I've checked everything, and it seems in order to me. I do believe the judge who presided your case is one of the most conservative judges when it comes to domestic violence cases, he's rather very safe than sorry. I'm sorry, Natalia, but the feds really did lie to you."

Everyone was stunned. Then Natalia said:

"I'm kind of glad to hear it. With all the good things Eric's been telling me about Tim, it made me very sad to think that he had made serious mistakes with my case. I just wish I could move on now and try to clear up the mess that is my life right now, and start concentrating on becoming a CSI."

Horatio smiled at all of them, and Calleigh was practically beaming.

Things would maybe go back to normal again.

Normal, Miami style.

THE END


End file.
